Prior to the 2015 Texas Pinball Festival we took a road trip to southern Texas to visit the Lone Star Pinball Museum and the new second location for the people behind the Pinballz Arcade is Austin - Pinballz Kingdom in Buda, Texas.

The quiet feeder road for the I-35 highway might be a natural place to fill up the car's tank or find a place to rest for the night, but it's also home to a great combination of quality pinball, arcade games, craft beers and snack food.

It doesn't look like much is going on here, but...

It's a good sign. Two of them, in fact.

When we visited, Pinballz Kingdom had only recently opened at the former truck stop site. There was some construction work still going on but the main building was complete and open to the public.

Pinballz Kingdom

The main entrance was through a stone arch with an impressive dragon topper.

The right-hand area was still under construction

As you enter the main building on the left, you come straight into the arcade games section with the big set-piece games up front.

The view from the entrance

Curiously, two of those main video game attractions had pinball connections.

Fishbowl Frenzy by Ken Fedesna's company Team Play,
and Big Buck Hunter HD from Eugene Jarvis's Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix
with the team headed up by Mark Ritchie

To the right is Mikki's Tavern, while to the left are more arcade games and the pinball section.

All arcade game genres are catered for here, with drivers, air hockey, skee-ball, dance machines, and classic videos.

Air hockey, dance games and driving games

Assorted drivers, shooters and sports games

The classics

But 'pinball' in both the name of the game and the name of the place, so naturally there is an impressive range of flipper games, starting with the largest production pinball, Hercules.

Right the the front is Hercules

Behind Hercules are four rows of top-quality games.

The Lord of the Rings leads off this row of seven pinballs

Backing onto these are seven more, starting with the new Star Trek LE

Facing the row above are these eight pins

Backing onto those above is another row of eight pinballs

The pinballs were in very good condition and the whole area was brightly lit to really show off the nice clean playfields.

You may have noticed how each machine features either a PinGulp cup holder on one of the legs, or a separate adjacent cup holder on a stand to make sure you're never far from refreshments.

Nearly all the games also feature a swipe card reader next to the coin door. Pinballz Kingdom operates a cashless policy for their games, so you can buy a play card and add more credits at a card machine.

Cards can be recharged with cash or credit/debit cards

This Williams StrikeMaster only accepts a swipe card

However, many machines also (or only) take tokens as payment, so you can change cash and card credits for tokens if you prefer.

The familiar token machine

This Strikes & Spares is tokens-only

It's hard to roll a swipe card down the playfield,
so this Stern-built Simpsons Kooky Carnival is also token play only

Cash is still king though, so if you need some there's an ATM too

No family entertainment centre would be complete without the opportunity to win (physical or virtual) armfuls of tickets which can be exchanged for either top brand merchandise or cheap junk at the redemption centre.

The redemption centre

80,000 for a Prada bag or 120,000 for an Xbox One

Or how about 24,000 plastic frogs instead of that Xbox?

If you turn right at the entrance rather than head towards the arcade games, you come to Mikki's Tavern.

Mikki's Tavern

Mikki's Tavern is largely taken up by diner-style tables and seating, but also has a full bar with additional seating.

The food is mostly short-order fare, such as sandwiches, burgers and pizzas, with some salads and appetisers for good measure.

The food menu
(click to enlarge)

The beer selection is a strong point, with twenty draught beers or ciders available. They have put together a nice balance of the bland international brands some customers prefer and more interesting craft brews.

The beer menu

Southern Texas is usually guaranteed plenty of warm weather and bright sunshine, so there is a large beer garden outside where you can enjoy your food and/or beverages al fresco.

The beer garden

Not surprisingly there are also some games you can play while enjoying the fresh air.

Leaving the games room doesn't mean leaving the games

It is outside where all the redevelopment work was taking place. During our visit they were constructing a go-kart track and enhancing the live music stage. By the time you read this they should have completed that work.

Construction work

The live music stage

Work should be finished by 2016

Pinballz Kingdom is open all year round with the arcade and bar open until midnight every night, and until 1am on Saturday nights. If things get too much there's an America's Best Value Inn right next door.

They have regular party and promotional nights, so check their website for details of these events and more information about the business.